My tattoon family

Check this site out it is so much fun to play in. You can waste heaps of time creating people. www.tattoodle.com

Happy in scrap land

Well it seems that lack of time was what has been stifling my mojo. I've been scrapping between cleaning cupboards and getting the house in order while on long service, rest of the days spent in the pool or up the street. Even have time for curves. The 1938 layout is a scraplift from Jenny Bowlin. I've been very happy just puddling along. Next weeks project is cleaning my scrap stuff up and reorganising my stash.

Alex Kohan Andrew 2months old

Alex is getting so cute, he stayed a couple of hours this arvo and gave me lots of big smiles when he woke up. Ty and I spent time in the pool playing pool basketball while he had a nap.

Good old fashioned fun

Well we had an old fashioned family day at the local show. Chas and I had both entered photos and both one prizes - he entered two and got a 1st prize I entered into 6 classes and got a 1st, 2nd and 3rd and a show champion. We then wandered into the animal nursery then up midway to the carnival. Ty had a ride on the train, the roller coaster, the dodgem cars and the jumping castle.

The circus came to town

Kirsty and I took Ty to the circus on Saturday afternoon. The last time I was at a circus Kirsty was about 10, the animals looked unkempt and the performers worse, dirty with worn out costumes. I was very dubious about going but Ty really wanted to go and I can't resist him so off we went. Well I was blown away by this small family run circus. It was very professional and the animals were well cared for and healthy looking. They had three lions, some monkeys and some ponies. The kids could have a pony ride at half time and get their photo taken with the clowns. They had the usual side show stuff, the showbags were actually good value, the food was great and the rides were reasonably priced. Well done to the Stardust Circus and the West family - if they come to your town make the effort to go see them, it's worth it.

One month on

Alex is growing so fast. Ty is a wonderful big brother. This pic was taken at home last week, Alex is 6 weeks old and a very happy and settled baby. The sun was setting and the light was so soft we had a ball with Ty taking his photo - all he could do was belly laugh at us. Tuesday I had the boys for a few hours so we used the time to empty and refill the pool after cleaning it out the night before and filling it with channel water to check for leaks. At first Ty didn't want to get in as it had "yucky" water - but in the end the chance to get wet was too great and in he got. Alex snoozed in the pusher and I relaxed in the sun watching Ty play - all round a perfect day.

Alex Kohan Andrew

Isn't he the cutest? It amazes me just how alike he and Ty are, if you compare their photos it is really difficult to tell them apart, it's really amazing. I had him for a couple of hours on the weekend it was fabulous, loved it.

Introducing

Alex Kohan Andrew Read
Born September 11th 2009 at 0137 hrs at Bendigo Hsopital
Weighing in at 8lb 3oz

Day 6 Home at last

We were up early and headed off to surprise my mate Nancy and meet her new baby ( well almost new - 8 months old). We sure did surprise her. We had a couple of cups of coffee a good natter and played with her gorgeous boy. We headed off down the Hume and Chas indulged me and went via Glenrowan so I could take a picture of Eyeore with Ned Kelly. We had lunch at the Billy tea rooms - dad and daves as we call it. I had my usual - meat pie peas and chips - they have the best peas in the world, Chas had a devonshire tea and we hit the road again. We made Maneroo around 3 and Kisrty and Ty were home to greet us which was lovely.

Day 5 Lest We Forget.

Arrived at the Memorial as it opened at 10, found it reasonably easy - only did the state circle 3 times before we found the right exit across the bridge. we spent a lovely 4 hours wandering around. There were some new displays and I particularly enjoyed the 1945 and beyond displays which weren't open when we were there three years ago. We decided we would head to Yass for the night as there was nothing else we wanted to see in Canberra. We hit Yass at 3 and decided to try for Gundagai. We hit Gundy around 4 and decided to aim for Albury. We made Albury around 6.30 and found the Fountain Gate Motel and headed to the SSand A club across the road for tea.

Day 4 Just Chillin

We decided to have no plans, we enjoyed the space at the Carrington so much we opted for a chill day in Bungendore - with a short half hour trip to Braidwood. We did some circle work on the highway picking up a couple of signs that had blown out of a vehicle along the way. Did some washing and headed back to the George for tea, great meal. Hadl an early night and plan to head to Canberra tomorrow to see the War Memorial, then head toward home Thursday.

Day 3 Whose a happy boy then?

Hit the track early, Chas had a ball driving laps on the mountain - I had a nervous minute when he left me at the esses so I could take some pics of him on the track - but he came back for me. We checked out the National Motor Museum which was pretty cool. I was fascinated with the grafitti from some very famous race drivers in the loos - in fact I checked the door to make sure I was in the right loo. We hit the road again to Bungendore on one of the prettiest and steepest drives off the mountains. we made Bungendore just on 3 and headed straight to the antiques store to see if his chairs were still there. Miraculously there were 4 left - there were 6 three years ago. Deal done after some negotiating we set off to find a bed and some food. The bed proved easy - very lovely room at the Carrington with space to move and no wall beside the bed. Finding food however proved slightly more elusive. The Carringtons restaurant and bar were closed on a Monday night so we headed to the Harvest Royal for the $10 roast - recommended by everyone - mmmm sign on door closed tonight due to unforseen circumstances, we had a beer - no atmosphere at all, so we head to the Lake George - they don't do meals on Mondays but great atmosphere we had a great time and opted for toast and cold meat for tea back in the room. Not sure what the plans are today beyond breakfast.

Day 2 from the mountain

We hit the road early after a very noisy night thanks to the idiots next door. Headed to Parkes for a bite to eat then north to the "Dish". On the way back in we discovered a little known gem the antique tractor museum there is more machinery than I have ever seen in one place and a fantastic photo display of the building of the dish. The quality of the photos is amazing. We soon hit the road again to Orange where we spent some time exploring the antiques stores. Soon we were back on the road to Bathurst where we headed to check out Mt Panorama - tomorrow we will be driving "the track". After that we have no plans - we'll see where the day takes us.

Well our outback adventure began today. We hit the road early and had breakfast at Hay. We checked out Shear Outback - it was pretty cool - we watched a sheep being shorn and checked out the history of shearing. Then we spent half an hour checking out the Interment camp museum at the railway station - worth a look if you are there but otherwise wouldn't bother. We headed to Hillston - I had booked a room at the pub for two nights - but one look and I knew we wouldn't be hanging around - scary pub - dead town - took us 5 minutes to see what there was to see and we hit the road. We ended up in a little town called Condobolin - friendly people - not at all scary - nice pub with meals and a very nice motel across the road. The plan is to hit the road in the morning and spend some time at the dish in Parkes then we will spend the night in Bathurst so we can drive the track at mount Panorama, after that with two spare nights uo our sleeve we might end up anywhere.

How slack am I?

OMG I can't beleive I haven't posted since November. I've been busy working on photo books from our trip - but I do promise to finish transcibing my travel diary and uploading some pics while I'm on holidays in the next few weeks.
Cheers H

Elie Sunday 12th October 2008

Elie was very special. I recognised Lochty cottage from thr photos and the lovely lady at the local shop confirmed for me that I had the right place. We wandered down to the harbour and the lady's tower and dressing room which were just gorgeous. Crossing the scottish border was very special to me the day before.

A cottage by the sea

Saturday 11th October 2008

We arrived at Pittenweem around 7pm after several distractions along the way. We spent some time at Lindifarne but sadly couldn't wait long enough for the tide to roll out so we could drive to the island and check out the castle.

Actually finding Puffin's Neuk proved to be a challenge - I had forgotten to print out the directions - but wasn't worried - shouldn't be hard it's a tiny village - WRONG. ASked for directions - no one had heard of it - sent us to Puffins Cottage - WRONG - back to the pub where a lovely young fella called Ryan let me use his internet to get the website up and check for instructions - recognised the cottage and offered to tale us - well we found the complex with Ryans help - but still no name on the flats - tried every door with the key until we got one door open - threw in the luggage and returned young Ryan to the Anchor Arms and his mum Francis. Turned out to be a blessing Francis was a fabulous cook and the meals at teh pub were FANTASTIC a real find. The view from the cottage window was everything Anne adverstised.

I set about doing some laundry - emptied teh suitcases and washed everything we weren't actually wearing - the dryer didn't work - or rather I couldn't get it to work - hence the jeans hanging on the Abby Wall Road fence - I ironed most of the other clothes dry.

magical Hogwarts

Alnwick castle was very special, for any Harry Potter fan everywhere you looked seemed familiar. I couldn't resist the white owl he looked so at home on the castle wall.

YORK Fri 10th

York was fantastic, we took advantage of the park and ride system and caught the bus to the castle, then walked to the shambles and got back on. The views are spectacular no matter where you turn there is something to see. The shambles are narrow and twsity and the buildings almost touch across the street. Chas climed the castle. There was one point while we were waiting for the bus that three buses tried to squeeze into the narrow street at once - interesting to say the least

Antique Heaven Thurs 9th

Chas was in his element at the Newark on Trent antiques fair. There was so much stuff I would have loved but we just wouldn't have been able to get it home. They had everything from furniture and nick nacks to vintage clothing. I must have tried on 50 antique rings but couldn't find one to fit "bugger" Chas bought a couple of little brass things for his shed and I bought some silver charms and a dinky little red double decker bus matchbox car for Ty. We were footsore by the time we got back to South Scarle. We had lunch at the fair - the servings were HUGE, three types of potato and enough sheppards pie to feed six men it was amazing. Needless to say we didn't have tea - we just headed to the Grey Horse in Collingham for a few pints. Greystones was gorgeous Sheena was wonderfull. The room was exactly as it was in teh pictures, the floor actually slopes down quite significantly which was interesting - as the bed sloped a bit as well - felt like I was going to role out all the time.